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Nissan Electric SUV With Coupe Ambitions Teased Ahead of Tokyo Motor Show

Nissan's launch of the second-gen LEAF electric hatchback did not send the kind of ripples through the industry that the Japanese company must have hoped it would. In fact, you could say it only held the spotlight for a day or two, with other subjects quickly grabbing the headlines afterward.
Nissan electric SUV teaser 3 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot
Nissan electric SUV teaser enhancedNissan electric SUV teaser
That's partly down to Nissan not having its own Elon Musk figure to keep people engaged via Twitter, but mostly due to the EV's underwhelming specs. Yes, it is miles better than the first LEAF, the one that still holds the record for the best-selling electric vehicle, but the market has changed drastically since that model first came out.

Nissan needs to benchmark its vehicles against the competition if it wants to keep (or soon regain) its EV-leading crown, and at the moment they are falling short. We're not referring strictly to Tesla here, but also GM's Chevrolet Bolt as well as the plethora of future battery-powered models coming from almost every manufacturer (if they stay true to the specs presented so far).

That being said, Nissan isn't backing off and plans on using the new LEAF platform for an entire series of models. The first to follow the hatchback is, of course, going to be an SUV. Well, more like a crossover if this teaser image released today is anything to go by.

The Tokyo Motor Show opens a week from now on October 25 and, as promised, Nissan is going to have its next electric vehicle on the floor there. To build up the hype, the carmaker published a short video where we get a glimpse at the battery-powered crossover for the first time.

The new EV appears to have a bulky profile with a tiny glasshouse and a coupe-like sloping roofline (see enhanced image). That means Nissan chose to sacrifice practicality for style, which would be quite the opposite of what it did with the LEAF. Let's hope for its sake that it nailed the design. Otherwise, we're looking at an ugly crossover with poor range and limited interior space.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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